Senator-elect Mark Kirk (R-Ill) was the only Republican to be elected this year in a special election, meaning he should be seated for the coming lame duck session. And yet he’ll only be there for the final two weeks, while two Democrats elected in special elections will be seated early on.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois Republican Mark Kirk won’t be seated in the U.S. Senate in time for the start of the lame duck session of Congress this month – unlike two other newly elected senators.

The session begins Nov. 15. But state officials say the paperwork officially declaring Kirk the winner of the Senate race won’t be delivered until Nov. 29.

The two senators who will be seated early on: Chris Coons (D-DE) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Both of them are Democrats. Both of them will get their paperwork in time. But Kirk in Illinois, contending with Democrats running that state government, will have to wait.

The immediate implication: Republicans will have a smaller margin with which to filibuster far-left legislation Democrats will inevitably try to push through during the lame duck. If just one Republican goes to the Democratic side, the legislation passes.